Seven
by shoelacy
Summary: Seven years, seven vignettes.
1. first

**Seven** by **shoelacy**

**First**

Lily Evans, small, frail, and eleven, is rushing to her first class, her first ever class as a witch, and is focusing all of her concentration on keeping herself upright under the strain of her books. She is almost there when something that feels like a log finds its way in front of her feet. Before she knows what's happening, she and her books are sent sprawling across the stone floor. She looks back for the log but sees nothing. She hears laughter as she begins to gather her books and looks up in time to see four older boys wearing green scarves—indeed, it was an unusually chilly September day—tucking their wands back in their sleeves.

"Better watch your step, Mudblood," one of them says. "Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." The other three laugh at a joke unknown to her and follow the first down the hall.

Perplexed, Lily picks up her last book, makes her way —slowly this time—to class, and wonders what it means to be called "mudblood."


	2. second

**Second**

It is well past midnight and there are four boys in the infirmary, three of whom should not be there. The moon, still full from the night before, illuminates three figures huddled around a fourth laying in bed, their shadows elongated and climbing up the opposite wall.

"So what do you think happened to him?" asks one of the boys.

"Hush!" says another. "Do you _want_ Pomfrey to find us in here after hours?"

"Quiet, both of you," says the one with spectacles. "You should be more worried about waking Remus up. What _do_ you think happened to him, anyway?"

"I've no idea," says the second boy. "All I know is his aunts must be _wicked_ mean when they're sick."


	3. third

**Third**

Lily Evans, tall, pretty, and thirteen, is growing up, a fact Severus Snape is acutely aware of. At this moment in time they are sitting in the shade of a willow by the lake talking about their new classes. "You really should have taken Muggle Studies, Sev," Lily is saying. "Then maybe you wouldn't look so ridiculous when you visit me over summer."

"I much prefer wizard fashion," Severus replies. "Simply remembering to put a robe on in the morning is much easier than remembering which shirt will go with which pair of pants."

Lily giggles, her freckled cheeks rising up to meet her eyes, her dimples putting stars in his. "Sev, why do you have to be so serious all the time? You need to learn how to laugh." She giggles again, the sunlight dancing in her eyes, and Severus thinks that if Lily Evans could teach him how to laugh, everything would be just fine, indeed.


	4. fourth

**Fourth**

James Potter is fourteen, lanky, and on top of the world. Gryffindor is celebrating its victory over Slytherin, and James is the star. His captain claps him on the back, his teammates pump his hand, and his classmates congratulate him on a game well played. He glances around the common room, not knowing who he's looking for until he sees her fiery hair making its way up the girls' staircase. He calls out to her without thinking.

"Hey, Evans!" he says. "That was some game, yeah?"

Much of the activity in the common room stops as they wait for her response. She fixes a cool glance on him and says, "I wouldn't know, Potter. I wasn't there."

"Ah, what a shame! You missed the star of the show!" he responds with a radiant smile.

"Yes," she replies. "I hear Marlene did quite well."

A few people giggle at the exchange, and Sirius laughs outright as he places his hand on James's shoulder and says, "Tough luck, mate."

As he stares at Lily's retreating back, James wonders how she could befriend a slimy git like Snape and still think himself repulsive.


	5. fifth

**Fifth**

Lily Evans sits hidden in a room behind a tapestry with her knees drawn to her chest. Five minutes ago, she was livid. Five minutes ago, she was so angry she couldn't be still, couldn't hardly see where her feet were taking her. It's for this reason, she supposes, that she can't remember how exactly she got here. Now, her anger all but expired, she sits staring blankly ahead at cold ashes in a fireplace that probably hasn't been touched in years. Angry words ring in her ears.

_"I don't need help from filthy little Mudbloods like her!"_

A solitary tear makes its way down her face. Another joins it, and then another, and before long her shoulders are shaking violently and her cries echo throughout the room and into the empty hallway. An angry beast claws away at her heart, and she's not sure which hurts worse: the fact that Severus turned out to be just like the rest of them, or the fact that Potter was right about him all along.


	6. sixth

**Sixth**

"I still don't understand why she won't just give me a chance," James complains as he throws his bag on the floor and falls on his bed with a dejected sigh.

"Well you've only acted like a bloody wanker around her since fourth year," says Sirius as he tosses his tie in the general direction of his trunk and inspects himself in the mirror.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sirius ducks as a pillow comes flying in his direction.

"Her words, mate, not mine," he says as he walks out for a rendezvous in an empty classroom with some Hufflepuff. James can't remember her name and neither, he suspects, can Sirius.

"I have a hard time believing the words 'bloody' and 'wanker' are a part of Lily Evans's vocabulary," James mutters to a closed door, more for his sake than for anyone else's. He frowns as he places his arms behind his head and stares at the ceiling in silent contemplation.

The realization dawns on him slowly, and half an hour later he's figured it out. James Potter, in all his infinite, sixteen-year-old wisdom, finally understands that he's gone about wooing Lily Evans the wrong way.

Now, he is beginning to fear, it may be too late.

-------

**A/N:** Infinite apologies for how long it took me to update this. I'm taking 19 hours this semester and I don't really have time to do anything other than class and practice, let alone write. So here it is, finally. Hopefully the next one won't take as long. :)


	7. seventh

**Seventh**

Nothing has changed in the last seven years. From the very first moment she met James Potter, the moment when he dumped a bucket full of green slime on her head in first year because it "matched her eyes," he has had the same effect on her. Every time she sees him, her face flushes and her heart begins to race. For the first five and a half years of her time at Hogwarts she attributed this reaction to her immense dislike of him. It was not hard to imagine that such a strong emotion could elicit such a response.

It has been quite some time, however, since Lily Evans has felt such a dislike for James Potter. So why, she wonders as she makes her way to her spot in the library, do her insides stop working properly whenever he's around? She and James are well on their way to becoming very close friends, so why does she still react to him the same way she did when she held him in such strong disregard?

Lily sits down at her usual table and makes a half-hearted attempt to study. Her eyes flick across the page, but her mind is elsewhere. After some time (Minutes? Hours? How long has she been here?), she feels a change in the atmosphere and looks up in time to see James Potter walking towards her. His hair and clothes are in that neat disarray that only he can pull off, he has a half-smile that widens when he sees her, and his eyes brighten and single her out among everyone else in the room. The reaction is instantaneous: she feels a smile find its way on to her face without quite knowing how it got there, her heart starts beating a mile a minute, and her stomach starts doing acrobats. Her smile grows even wider and her breath leaves her body as James takes a seat across from her, and something Alice said to her last week begins to tickle her memory.

"_There's a fine line between love and hate, Lily."_

Lily tries and fails to recall when, exactly, she crossed to the other side, but then James smiles at her again and she decides it doesn't matter.

--

_please review!_


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